Dear Students, Parents, and Staff,

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed a relaxing Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. December is moving quickly, and with just two weeks left in the semester, encouraging students to remain focused will help ensure a strong academic finish. We’re balancing this focus on academics with opportunities to celebrate together:

• Friday, December 13: Students will enjoy a morning performance of our school musical production, The Little Mermaid Jr.

• Friday, December 20: The semester concludes with our annual Holiday Concert, featuring performances from our talented music department.

Winter NWEA Testing
All SLMS students will participate in Winter NWEA testing on Tuesday, December 10, and Thursday, December 12. This is the second of three benchmark tests this year and provides valuable insights for students, families, and teachers. Over the next few weeks, teachers will review students’ individual growth goals based on their September tests. Families will receive reports once testing is complete.

Deadlines for Outstanding Work
To ensure grades are finalized in time:

• Thursday, December 12: All late work or teacher-approved revisions must be submitted.

• Friday, December 20: All remaining assignments (assigned after Dec. 12) must be turned in.

Note: It may take some time for late work to be reflected in grades. Please encourage your student to communicate with teachers regarding any concerns.

Semester Finals
All SLMS students will take finals in their core classes (Math, Science, ELA, and Social Studies) during the week of December 16-20. Finals will count towards the 80% portion of students' grades, which includes tests, quizzes, and projects. The exception to this is Algebra 1 and 8th-grade modern language classes (French 1, Spanish 1, German 1, Mandarin Chinese) who follow the high school grading policy, with finals weighted at 10% of the student’s final grade.

Thank you for partnering with us to support your child’s success! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions as we close out the semester.

Respectfully,

David Mitchell, Ed.D.
Principal, SLMS
It’s ALWAYS a Great Day to Be a Falcon!

• Archery: Monday 12/9 and Wednesday 12/11 - 7:00PM
• D&D Club: Thursday 1/9- 3:30 - 4:30PM - Applications form https://forms.gle/fv4oBJThZykTrHwR9
• Embroidery: Tuesday 12/10 - 7:35AM\
• FalconBots: Monday 12/9 & Wednesday 12/11
• Falcon Smart: Thursday 12/12 at 7:30AM
• First Priority: Thursday 12/12- 7:35AM
• GSA: Monday 12/9 & 12/16- 7:40AM in Ms. Whyte's room.
• Peer Mentors: Thursday 12/19 - 7:30AM
• Scholar Bowl: Wednesday 12/11 - 3:30PM - RM 612
• The Little Mermaid Jr: Little Mermaid cast, please make sure to check your rehearsal calendar each week in Schoology and note any updates that are highlighted in yellow. People are missing rehearsals because you aren't checking your calendar. 3 Strikes and you are removed from the show.
• Yearbook: Thursday 12/12 - 3:25PM - 3:55PM

Join us Under the Sea for The Little Mermaid Jr. at Summit Lakes Middle School December 13th at 7pm, December 14th at 8pm or December 15th at 2pm! Tickets are $10 through this website: www.cur8.com (Search for Summit Lakes Middle School) or can be purchased at the door. (Children 3 & Under are Free at the Door). Ariel and friends hope to see you there!

Do you know any high school students who are in need of A+ hours? SLMS is looking for tutors on Tuesday and Thursday from 2:40-3:15. Please contact Ms. Thompson at caitlin.thompson@lsr7.net if you or anyone you know is interested in helping tutor our SLMS students!

Our lost and found is getting pretty full. Please remind your student to check the lost and found, located in the front office, if they are missing something. All Stanleys, Owalas, and airpods are kept behind the front desk, so make sure your student speaks to someone in the front office if they are missing one of these items specifically.

Dear SLMS Families,

I want to remind our families that all LSR7 students in grades K-8 are to be accompanied by an adult while attending district evening activities. This includes middle school athletic competitions, both indoors and out, which begin at 4:00pm.

SLMS will provide Falcon Fan Days during our fall, winter, and spring sports seasons. Falcon Fan Days are an exception and allow students with signed permission slips to stay after school and attend our home contests without their parent/guardian in attendance. Students participating in Falcon Fan Days will have some supervised time after school followed by attending the contest and sit in our designated student section. Students who are signed up will receive a ticket for a hotdog + water/pop or water/pop + candy at our PTA concession stand. Students are always encouraged to attend our athletic events to support their fellow falcons with a parent or guardian.

24-25 Falcon Fan Day Dates:

• Volleyball - 9/16

• Cross Country - 9/30

• Football - 10/8

• Wrestling - 11/20

• Girls Basketball - 12/5

• Boys Basketball - 1/14

• Track - 4/22

We are proud of the many outstanding and successful extracurricular activities that our students participate in and we want families and students to be able to support and enjoy these events safely.

Thank you for your support with this expectation. We appreciate your partnership.

Respectfully,

SLMS Administration

A reminder to all families regarding our AMI (Alternative Method of Instruction) procedures should we have weather-related school closures this winter. On AMI days, district communication will be sent to families and staff announcing that all school classes will take place virtually, along with reminders for students regarding how to access instructional materials.

For SLMS, teachers will post student assignments in Schoology by 9:00am and be available to answer questions during Google Help Meet times (10:00-Noon) NOTE: Teachers will share Google Meet codes with students through Schoology. In addition to the virtual help sessions, staff will be available via email during normal school hours (7:35am-3:30pm)

In the event of a DELAYED START (Two-hour late start):

School will begin two hours later than normal. For middle school, our start time would be 10:20am. Buses would run their regular routes adjusted by two hours (ex. A regular pick up time of 7:35am would be 9:35am).

At SLMS students are expected to complete all assignments on time and submit on the date they are due. Homework is given as practice to assure that students are building the necessary skills to master course objectives. We believe that meaningful work should be completed prior to taking any assessment. Our goal is to ensure that all students are reaching the desired grade-level standards that have been established for each course.

Students will have a set amount of passes for missing/incomplete homework per subject. When all passes have been used for that subject area, students will be assigned a before or after-school Homework Center. This is an opportunity to complete missing homework and get help from teachers. Students should report to the LMC with missing assignments to work on when assigned to the Homework Center.

Homework Center Hours: - Located in RM 510

• AM: Monday - Thursday (7:30-8:10)

• AM: Friday (8:30-9:10)

• PM: Monday (3:20-4:20)

In the case that your student is absent during a test in a class, they will be given the opportunity to take the test in the Testing Center. This is a proctored environment to provide the student with an ideal testing environment.

Testing Center Hours:

• AM: Monday - Thursday (7:30-8:10)

• Monday - Rm 520

• Wednesday - Rm 520

• Tuesday/Thursday - Rm 613

• AM: Friday (8:30-9:10) - Rm 511

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With an increase of fall allergies and illnesses starting the health room would like you to send your students prepared. Your student is always welcome to carry a water bottle and lozenges with them in the building. We are unfortunately unable to provide every student with water bottles and lozenges, so it is best to send these items with your student daily. We have multiple water filling stations throughout the building, so a reusable water bottle is a great investment!

In order to ensure that transportation needs are met, we ask that you follow the below processes for end of day transportation changes:

• If you need to communicate a transportation change with a student, we ask that you notify the main office prior to 3:00pm. This allows us time to reach your student with the message, as students begin dismissing at 3:13pm.
• It is difficult to check students out between 3:00pm-3:15pm, as many activities occur during Advisory at the end of the day, and students are often moving between locations in the building. In order to ensure that you are not waiting, or late to appointments - please pick up your student prior to 3:00pm if you need to leave before 3:15pm.
• If you need a one-day bus pass for your student to ride home with a friend on a different bus - we need written permission from both families prior to 1:30pm the day of in order to arrange this with transportation. Written permission can be emailed to courtney.mitchell@lsr7.net.

We appreciate all your help and understanding in helping to ensure that all of our Falcons have a safe and timely dismissal.

LSR7 is now hiring school bus drivers. No experience needed, and the opportunity includes paid training, full benefits and pay starting at $20.03 - $28.05 per hour based on experience. Have a vested interest in supporting students?

Apply to be one of our district's greatest assets.

Call 816-986-4287 for more information.

Email: firstname.lastname@lsr7.net
Website: slms.lsr7.org
Location: 3500 Southwest Windemere Drive, Lee's Summit, MO, USA
Phone: 816-986-1375
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/summitlakes
Twitter: @SLMSFalcons